Comparison

ChaJi vs Steep

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ€” with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

ChaJi

Features
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Cha Ji is a focused tea journal for gong fu cha enthusiasts. Keep a record of every tea you own, every brew you make, and the notes that help you improve, all stored privately on your device and synced via iCloud. JOURNAL Add teas with name, type, origin, vendor, harvest season, star rating, and a purchase link. Log brew sessions for each tea: temperature, leaf weight, water volume, vessel, steep times, and free-form notes. Mark whether you want to buy a tea again. Search and filter your whole collection by type, rating, or buy-again status. BREW SESSIONS Each tea keeps a numbered session log. Record the date, vessel (gaiwan, teapot, or custom), temperature, grams, milliliters, individual steep durations, tasting notes, and a "next time" note to guide your next brew. Session parameters carry over automatically so you spend less time filling in forms. BREWING REFERENCE The Brewing tab shows gongfu starting-point ratios for every major tea style: green, white (tender and aged), yellow, oolong, black, raw pu'er, and ripe pu'er - with temperature guidelines. Dial in your vessel size with the slider and the leaf amounts scale to match. CLEAN AND FOCUSED No accounts. No subscriptions. No social features. Just a well-organized place to keep your tea notes.

About

Steep

Features
Read full description

Steep is the tea app for people who care how their tea is brewed. Set a precise timer for green, black, oolong, white, or puerh โ€” with smart presets for temperature and time. In gongfu mode, Steep tracks each short infusion in sequence, auto-bumping the next steep and counting down right on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, so your hands stay on the gaiwan. Build your stash by photographing a tin or pouch โ€” Steep reads the label and fills in type, origin, vendor, and harvest year for you to confirm. See your whole collection at a glance, track quantity and value, and mark aging puerh cakes you're saving. Journal every session: log each infusion, dictate tasting notes hands-free, and let on-device intelligence organize them into aroma, body, and finish. Suggestions, never appraisals โ€” your palate stays the authority. When your shelf is worth showing off, export a beautiful tea-shelf card to share with your community. Everything syncs privately across your devices with iCloud. Nothing leaves your phone for our servers. Free to brew with built-in timers and a starter stash. Steep Pro unlocks unlimited teas and sessions, label scanning, AI notes, value tracking, and unbranded cards โ€” monthly, annual, or a one-time lifetime unlock. Steep your tea. Remember it. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://brainrash.com/privacy

Screenshots

ChaJi4 screens
Steep4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ChaJi at none against Steep's 2. ChaJi also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Steep sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. ChaJi asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
ChaJi versus Steep: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChaJiSteep
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyโ€”Every 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.0 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size1 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRoy ZwambagJustin Pruskowski

In-app purchases

None

ChaJi

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Steep

Subscriptions2
  • Steep Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Steep Pro Annual$14.991 Year

Questions

Is ChaJi free?
ChaJi is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Steep free?
Steep is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ChaJi or Steep have ads?
Neither ChaJi nor Steep shows ads.

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